Keep pushing reforms to reduce arrests for minor offenses in New Orleans: An editorial

Advocates for more effective policing in New Orleans have for years been pushing to reduce the number of arrests for traffic violations and other minor, nonviolent offenses -- so that more resources can be focused on violent crime.

Mr. Quatrevaux's office examined arrests patterns for the second half of 2009, the year after the City Council changed the law to give police officers more discretion to use summonses where appropriate.

But Mr. Quatrevaux found that even after those changes, the city's arrest rate was three times the national average for cities of similar size or larger. In addition, a third of arrests were for minor municipal violations or traffic offenses. And more than 14 percent of arrests were on warrants issued by other parishes for minor offenses, including unpaid traffic fines.

That's wasteful. The city spent about $3.2 million housing municipal detainees at the jail in 2009, according to the report. Clearly, there are better crime-fighting uses for that money.

The situation improved last year, when a Metropolitan Crime Commission analysis found a 21 percent drop in municipal arrests for the first half of 2010. But that still included more than 6,000 arrests on minor out-of-parish warrants.

Officials must push harder to lower that figure further this year. The inspector general is recommending using fines instead of jail for some minor offenses and ensuring that all New Orleans police officers comply with recent law changes that give them even more discretion to use a summons instead of an arrest when appropriate. He also recommended exploring alternate programs to address the underlying problems of mental illness and substance abuse, instead of simply throwing repeat offenders into jail.

Addressing the report, the city attorney's office said some of the suggested reforms are being implemented. For example, the office said it's hired a "criminal justice coordinator" to evaluate sentencing alternatives and diversion programs for municipal cases.

The city also should consider the suggestion of the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit group working with Orleans Parish officials, to create a "sobering center" where police can bring people instead of arresting them for public drunkenness.

City officials said arrests for minor offenses are dropping further now. Mr. Quatrevaux should reevaluate the statistics later this year to measure the progress and keep the push for reform going.